1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to coating and material handling machines. More specifically, this invention relates to automatic coating and material handling machines for objects such as light bulbs, and the like in which only a part of the objects is coated.
2. Prior Art
There are many problems inherently associated with methods and apparatus' for coating a small object that can't be totally dipped. For example, the objects must be all aligned in one direction so that the same part of all the objects will be coated. The dipping of the objects in the coating must be carefully controlled so that each object is uniformly coated and such that there is no coating on the area on which no coating is desired. Further, each coat must be completely dried before an additional coat is added which is quite time consuming and expensive when several thousand objects must be coated. For a high volume product such as tiny test tube shaped Christmas tree light bulbs, a fast and inexpensive method and apparatus is desired to place the variety of different colors on the bulb such that the coating cost per unit is as low as possible and the leads of the bulbs remain uncoated. Further, a method in which these objects may be recoated, in a minimum amount of time if an additional coat is required, would be of substantial advantage to the art.